In very active contact sports, such as football, players often receive knee injuries from blows received in the course of the game. These blows are often delivered on one side or the other of the leg, for example, but such blows could also be received in the front of the leg. Both legs and arms suffer hyper-extensions at joints. These injuries often disable players for further participation in such games, and often are painful and take a long time to heal, frequently leaving limbs permanently impaired.
An object of this invention is to provide a protective support for the human knee joint. It provides a floating rocker connection member which is placed on at least one side of the knee joint with two linear rigid tongues, each pivotally connected in a spaced manner at one end inside the rocker connection member, one of these tongues being in position to extend along the leg immediately above the knee joint, respectively, and the other of the tongues being in position to extend along the leg immediately below the knee joint. A sleeve surrounds each tongue fastened to the adjacent limb by tapes or the like and sufficiently close to the associated tongue to permit free longitudinal movement of the tongue in the sleeve but preventing twisting of the tongue about its pivotal connection. The connection between the rocker connection member and the tongues is such that it permits substantially free bending of the knee joint for normal bending but prevents reverse bending of the knee joint almost entirely. The tongues, as described herein, have sufficient body and are tough enough to stand tremendous impact wherein the blow is spread along the length of the sleeve, tongue and rocker members and is safely absorbed by the limb muscles without dangerous injury to the joint.
Two embodiments of the invention are presented. The first of these is intended for general use in orthopedic procedures and in active sports for maximum limb flexibility and is shown as having three generally parallel tongues each pivotally connected to a central rocker connection member on an individual pivot, there being three of these guides in position to extend above the knee of the wearer and the other three on the opposite side extending down the leg of the wearer.
A second embodiment is also intended for both therapeutic applications and contact sports where very close, maximum rigidity fit to a limb is wanted. With the interfitting parts of this invention made to close dimensions, a snug fitting of maximum protection from a blow or push from in front is achieved. With one of these units on each side of a joint maximum shock absorption is achieved. One pair of tongues may be reversed in bending direction to achieve a rigid stiff leg, that is, an open air cast. In this manner, leg twisting is reduced or eliminated by proper attachment to the limb, respectively. This second embodiment will be used in regular football service and other contact sports, if the tongues and their surrounding sleeves are given a slight looseness for essential free sliding.
This invention, when constructed with one protector on each side of the joint and permitting substantially free bending of the joint in normal direction but preventing reverse bending of the joint, gives one-way flexibility. In standing position of the wearer, for example, the two guides extending in opposite directions from the knee joint become a column, unyielding to a hyper-extensive bend. This provides for: (1) resistance to a blow from the front; (2) distributes side blows to leg muscles; (3) preventing a severe twist of the leg joints; (4) cyclical restoration of the positioning of the systems components, and (5) when used for a temporary leg cast with the bending position reversed on opposite sides of the leg, to force the structures to work against each other, it becomes a rigid structure preventing knee joint action.
An object of the use of the present invention in active contact sports is to obviate damage to a player's knee joints by providing units constructed according to this invention firmly attached to the player's limbs above and below the joints, and so constructed and arranged that they give the player free use of his limbs in playing a game but resist, as shown by actual test, a blow of as much as 200 pounds on one side or the other of the limb without damage to the player's joint. The principle upon which this invention is applied is the distribution of a sharp blow on the side of the limb near the joint to the muscles above and below the knee of elbow joint so as to divert the blow chiefly from the joint bone and cartilage structure. This is referred to as shock absorption.
One of the advantages of this invention is that it is very light in weight and yet sufficiently strong to produce the desired results. Conventional wrapping procedures are simple and rapidly done by the wearers themselves.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and description, and the essential features will be set forth in the appended claims.